Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 434 The style of the big production

   "This studio is the one of Xiao Yan, and the one next to it is the big one. It is used to shoot the night scene of Chicago's South City." A man with a fat head, big ears and a thick neck led Ronald to visit the studio of "Rage Street".

   The man talking was "Rage Streets" producer Joel Silver, who was passionate about Ronald. I heard that Ronald came to visit the crew today, he came from the office immediately and took Ronald to visit the film studio.

What Joel Silver was talking about was the studio where Diane filmed the concert. It was renovated into an old fashioned auditorium in the 1950s. It was a bit like Ronald's 25th anniversary concert in Motown. kind of look.

   Except for a stage, there are no seats under the stage, only standing tickets, it is a very familiar configuration. Turning to the back of the stage, Ronald was surprised to find that the backstage of the stage had been completely restored.

   "This stage is decorated like the real thing?" Ronald touched a few switches, which are used to switch the lights on the ceiling. This kind of old-fashioned auditorium can generally be used by gaffers to climb up to the top attic and use spotlights to illuminate the stars.

   "It cost me a million dollars, and I copied the original drawings as they were." Joel Silver said proudly. Ronald Lee's new film "Night of the Comet" has already climbed to $20 million at the box office, nearly 20 times the box office/production cost ratio, making him realize that this young man is likely to be the next independent filmmaker. Filmmakers are vying for the object.

Joel Silver is proud to introduce Ronald to the elaborate decorations everywhere. There is no director who does not like the sophisticated restoration brought by high investment. Ronald has made two small productions under three million dollars, sure. Looking forward to the matching packages that are only available for these big productions.

"How many scenes are going to be filmed here?" Ronald touched the old-fashioned microphone on the stage. The one that Dai arranged for practice just now. The crew very accurately restored the stage technology of fifty years. It cannot be detached from the stand to hold in hand.

   "There are two performances in total. The female singer of the opening concert was snatched away, and Alan Ann, who was free at the end, sang a song again."

   "Two scenes." Ronald touched the microphone, thinking in his mind how much it would cost to recreate it. The two scenes cost him enough to make an exploitative film.

   "Come this way," Joel Silver took Ronald to the big studio again. In order to facilitate the shooting, the crew did not hesitate to rent two studios at the same time.

   "What's this?" Ronald watched as the Universal was covered in a light-colored canvas outside the biggest studio in Hollywood.

   "This is the tent. In order to shoot the night scene, we specially ordered this canvas tent to cover the whole studio.

   "How much will this cost?"

   "two hundred thousand".

   "Uh, Ronald stopped talking.

   "Come in, watch out for the ground" Joel Silver led the way and turned on the studio lights.

   "Oh, what is this?" Ronald exclaimed like a movie fan visiting Universal Studios. The dim light in the studio was actually coming from a lamp post that looked like a street lamp.

  After his eyes got used to the light, Ronald found that what seemed to be the set in this big studio was the bottom of a highway elevated road.

   "This is what we copied from the South Side of Chicago. It was originally a viaduct where several interstate highways converge in the South Side of Chicago."

   "HolyShxt!" Rao is a crew that Ronald has seen a lot of big productions, and he was also shocked by this generosity. The pillars of several viaducts have been turned into cement color, and there are also some steel-reinforced pillars, which are rusted and stained, very restored.

   "Why didn't you go to the real location?" Ronald wondered.

   "Two reasons. First, the law and order in the South City of Chicago is not very good. If our crew shoots for a long time, it may be in danger."

   Ronald saw that Joel Silver was silent, so he turned his head and asked, "What about the second?"

   "Second, because I can."

   "Okay..." Ronald didn't know what to say. In the film industry, if you have money, you can really do whatever you want, as long as the movies you make can make money.

"When the time comes, the hero, Cody, will stand in this place and shoot the motorcycle gangster next to the viaduct pillar, and a shotgun will blow up a motorcycle." Joel Silver to Rhona De introduced the scene that was shot during the downfall.

   "Is this a little cartoonish?"

"Very accurate, Ronald, very accurate. In fact, Walter Hill and I, the director, were going to make a cartoon movie. At the beginning of the film, we would add two lines of white text on the black screen, 'Another time, another place'."

  Joel Silver shows how the subtitles appear with his hands.

   "Like the beginning of Star Wars, 'A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away'?" Ronald asked.

   "Haha, that's right."

  Joel Silver and Ronald walk all the way, visit all the way, the whole movie set, like the old-fifties neighborhood vibe, it seems that they want to represent a semi-fictional cartoon story.

"How's it going? What do you think of this movie?" Joel Silver took Ronald around for a while, and finally returned to the small studio. He asked his assistant to make two cups of coffee and sat under the stage. Start chatting.

   "Uh, I don't know. I have no experience with this kind of big production, everything is new to me."

   "Hahaha, I know you are a capable director, you don't have to worry, I just want to hear your opinion, we can let go of the chat as much as possible, it would be best if there is any inspiration."

"In that case", Ronald saw Joel Silver very open, "I have a question, why did the actor Cody not go with Alan Ann in the end? Instead, he had to arrange for him to wander the world, Let the heroine Ann be with that agent boyfriend?"

  Ronald expressed the biggest doubt in his heart. From the casting point of view, Diane is an absolute heroine. Although she is not the kind of charming woman like a blooming flower, the image of a girl is also very good.

  The audience will always hope that she and the handsome guy who plays Cody will end up together, not the deliberately chosen thin, glasses-wearing agent who looks like a copper stench.

  Director Walter Hill also specially found a comedian Rick Moranis to play the agent's current boyfriend. No audience will like this kind of man, let him be with the heroine.

"Good question, hahaha," replied Joel Silver, "because I've discussed with Walter many times that this movie is not about plot, but about atmosphere. Today's teenage audience, not necessarily No matter how they like this old-fashioned ending, maybe a decadent hero will make them like it even more."

   "Hey, get the lights on and look at Ronald", Joel Silver waved his assistant to turn on the lights of the small studio, and on the background of the stage, several neon lights were lit up. Then a spotlight hit the stage.

  Ronald sat down and felt that the whole place was very dark, with only bright spots on the stage.

   "dong dong dong dong..." A drum sounded. It was the drummer of the band brought by music director Jim Steinman. Infected by the atmosphere, he played the drums.

   "Wow..." Suddenly in front of the stage, several very bright headlights flashed a few times, illuminating the entire auditorium.

  Ronald felt his pupils shrink for a while, "Oh, this effect is great."

  Like a real rock concert, the lighting and the rhythm of the songs work together to make the audience very lively.

   "If you come tomorrow, our million-dollar lighting engineer will make the atmosphere even better." Joel Silver also sent an invitation.

   "I will definitely come." Hearing that the lighting engineer also paid a million dollars, Ronald decided to come to the scene to open his eyes.

   "Not only that, but Diane will be wearing the most fashionable clothes tomorrow, which are also the work of a million-dollar designer."

   "Okay, you've got my interest growing." Another million-dollar position. This movie is really a local tyrant. It is estimated that this kind of story does not have any expensive special effects. The 30 million US dollars are all spent on these dances, makeup, art, and costumes.

   "That's it, you can just wander around here." Joel Silver felt that the effect was very good, and Ronald Lee must be impressed by his financing ability and the full support of the director. He patted Ronald on the shoulder and walked out of the studio.

"Hey Ronald, did John Fogarty teach you the song 'Who Can Stop This Rain'?" Music Director Jim Steinman saw the producer leave and immediately came over and asked Luo Nader.

   "Yes, I met him in a cowboy bar in San Francisco, and he happened to be scolding his manager and cheating him of his money." Ronald recounted what happened when he met the lead singer of the CCR band at that time.

"You may not believe it, although I have two extremes in his musical style, but I like his simple style very much, so as soon as you use the acoustic guitar and play three rhythms, I immediately recognize it from the tiger's footprints. out of him."

   Ronald chats with Jim Steinman. Steinman is a person who is very obsessed with music technology. He has long flowing hair, and he talks endlessly for those who like him, and he doesn't bother to say a word to those who don't like him.

Ronald didn't know much about his music. After listening to his self-introduction, he realized that now on the America Billboard chart, the number one "Total Eclipse of the Heart" sung by Bonnie Tyler, and No. 1 Two of the air supply band (AirSupply) "MakingLoveOutofNothingatAll", two golden songs, are all composed by Steinman.

   Gradually, Jim Steinman's team gathered around, listening to the boss's rare comments about today's music scene.

  Jim Steinman's musical style has been called Wagner in rock and roll. Various instruments and theme melody are progressively laid out layer by layer. The John Fogarty that Ronald had met was the exact opposite, known as the bard in rock and roll, with a guitar and very simple melodies and lyrics.

   But both of them are very special songwriters in today's music scene. Their songs are often not imitated and copied by others. The most popular singers have to lower their bodies to please them and write songs for themselves.

   "I don't understand why the theme song Diane lip-synched just now has a stereo effect. You obviously only have one speaker here." Ronald took the opportunity to ask questions.

   "That's the sound wall technique", a beautiful singer brought by Steinman answered Ronald's question.

   "Sound Wall?"

   "I'll introduce you," Steinman said to Ronald, "This is Laurie Sargent, and she's the real original singer of Diane's lip-synching 'NowhereFast'.

  Acoustic Wall is a recording technology, we let singers and musicians sing in the basement where the echo is abundant, and then send the singing to the recording studio above through brass.

   The vocals of such singers will have a special effect, as if they stand out from the background. You hear a lot of early records that used this technique. "

   "Yeah, Soundwall, you made us record more than seventy times to pass, and I'm about to sing," Laurie Sargent complained.

   "There is no way, the sound wall technology must be recorded repeatedly, so that you can completely grind out the individual performance of your own voice and instruments, and finally combine them to produce the effect.

  Ronald chatted with the band for a while. They were also taking part in a film for the first time and were interested in everything.

  Laurie Sargent asked suddenly, "Are you the director? Can you tell me why the story of this movie is so strange?"

Ronald scratched his head, "Actually, I don't know, maybe the director Walter Hill has other plans. He said that the focus of this movie is not the story, but the atmosphere, and your music is also part of the atmosphere. I guess the movie will be released. If it's a big hit, your band and lead singer will be famous too."

   "Really? We'll be famous too?" another blond singer chimed in.

"This is Holly Sherwood," Steinman introduced, "they are two of my favorite backing vocalists, who have done backing vocals for Bonnie Taylor, MeatLoaf, etc. This time I brought them here, too. I want to fulfill their dream of releasing a record.

"Streets of Fire"

   "Then you will definitely become famous. Now it's very common to make a hit song with the same name in a movie. As long as the box office is successful, your record will also be successful." Ronald picked up some beauties and said.

   "I've seen enough, this story is already very strange, and they also changed the partner of the hero Cody into a woman." Laurie Sargent said suddenly.

   "What woman?" Ronald wondered.

   "The original script said that Cody's partner was a wrestler named McCoy (McCoy). Who knew the producers saw an actress who came to audition for other roles and turned Cody's partner into a woman."

   Ronald clicked his tongue, but he didn't expect that apart from the ending, the director and producer didn't respect the script, but changed it as they shot, even changing the gender of the second positive character. This is actually a bit unclear about Cody's role.

   Cody didn't get together with Alan Ann in the end, was it because he felt unworthy of her, or because he fell in love with his partner? This arrangement is not very good.

   "Ronald, how would you write this story if you were?" Holly Sherwood asked him, lying on the back of her chair.

   "Me? I might arrange for a martial artist like Bruce Lee to help Cody beat the bad guys, uncle, uncle!"

   "Hahaha" Everyone laughed.

   "Huh?" Ronald suddenly felt a familiar feeling, as if he had heard this story before? Is it a similar movie that you have seen in your previous life, or is it an old Hollywood movie you have watched in this life?

   With a forehead of doubt, Ronald returned home.

   If you saw a movie in a previous life, you should have dreamed of it, right? Di An is an actor he is familiar with, and the plot is guessed by himself. Could it be that Di An's movie is also a big seller?

   Ronald took a hot shower and did some Jane Fonda gymnastics. Go to bed early, looking forward to what you can dream about.

   A loud noise came, and Ronald vaguely heard many boys talking loudly.

   "Why is it so noisy? The video room is about to play video, why are you still talking so loudly."

   The author has a building in the community that was closed today, so I purchased a little food and stored it, just in case, it's a little late

   (end of this chapter)